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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 16, 2004)
juft 112004 enough good roles for women in theater,” she asserts. Her hope is that hy encouraging play wrights, more women-focused work will be pro duced. With Emergence, Soderberg intends to empower women on stage— and off. One of those women is Portland play wright Sandra de Helen, a 60-year-old lesbian who has been writing plays for three decades. Her 10-minute piece Burning Up premieres July 18 at Emergence. De Helen’s short farce finds the character of playwright Tennessee Williams stranded on the balcony of a burning building in New Orleans. Homoeroticism runs rampant as do other pas sions when a Russian spy, a young Greek god, a female prostitute and a Southern belle all join Williams amid the flames. De Helen writes about all kinds of people, gay and not so. “It just depends on what grabs me,” she says. “I try to write about characters.” She does see the need, however, for more and better roles for queers on stage. Like Soderberg, de Helen says women are still The schedule emergeth E mergence: The Second Annual Portland Women’s Playwright Festival takes place July 17 to 19 at C oH o Theatre, 2257 N.W. Raleigh St. All shows are free. • 2 p.m. July 17: Have reality shows taken over the airwaves and commandeered our better senses? A small, persevering cast of characters fight hack against the ratings- driven network machine in One Night on M ars hy Madge Zaiko o f Portland. Directed by Helena de Crespo. • 2 p.m. July 18: Tennessee Williams comes out on the balcony of a burning build ing in the French Quarter during Mardi Gras in Burning Up by Sandra de Helen of Port land. Cast includes Michael Teufel and Steve Brian. Two hilarious absurdist stories explore the collusion between Hollywood and the government to create winning propaganda in Spies and O ther Q ovem m ental Dysfunctions by Victoria Vidal of North Hollywood, Calif. Both shows directed by Tamara Carroll. • 7 :3 0 p.m. July 19: Tom is gone, but his fatal accident leads to a series of complex deceptions— while a wounded womans manip ulation oFrelationships spins dangerously out of control— in Tom 's Qirls by Elena Naskova of Los Angeles. Brilliant scientist Wanda is about to get married, but before she can, she has to let go of her obsession— saving planet earth— in M ajor Issues by Shirley King of Benicia, Calif. Both shows directed by Amy Gray. struggling to make a mark as directors and playwrights. R ecent statistics corroborate de Helen and Soderbergs perceptions. According to American Theater Magazine, in the 2001-2002 season, only 17 percent o f play wrights and only 16 percent of directors hired by off-Broadway and regional theaters were women. De Helen, who started her own women’s theaters in the 1970s and ’80s, is pleased to see a new generation of women-run theaters like Radiant cropping up. “I’m grateful for A n n a,” she says. “S h e’s a really enthusiastic, young visionary. S h e’s so committed to women. And she’s an excellent director as well.” T he admiration runs both ways. Soder berg lauds de Helen for her multitude of work and directed the 2002 Stark Raving Theatre production of de Helen’s Witch!, based on a true story about a lesbian Wiccan who encounters discrimination because of her spirituality. Soderberg says she’s interested in seeing more plays like Witch! in which a queer character’s sexuality is not the main theme o f the play. “ I’m interested in plays about lesbians being people,” she notes. “ Being people” is core to Soderbergs vision of theater in general. “To he human is to be an actor,” she says. “We act every day, and we often don’t realize we’re playing a role.” De Helen adds that theater is “a commu nity event. It doesn’t happen without an audience,” which “is part o f the special something happening right then, in real time. It’s never going to happen in exactly that way again.” N or will Emergence happen the same way. N ext year Soderberg will open the field nationally to any playwright with work that includes strong women characters. Eventual ly, she wants the festival to invite play wrights (of any gender) from around the world. A s for Radiant, she says they will keep doing “old plays in new ways,” which includes stirring up the gender soup. “When we do Hamlet [in 2006], we plan on doing a lot o f gender-bending,” she says. “And who knows with Jesus Christ Superstar ?” Jesus in drag? The mystery will he revealed in May 2005 at a theater near you. J H R TOUT OP MMV WQh tntffS WD IKMVeHRV D o e rn b S I Models (otarMtioad prosoottag ■ spectacular FasMoa skow at the Holdoy laa Airport, Cohnohla Coaferoace Ceator 9439 NE Cal— hi« Itvd (Pfc 503-259-50001 Job 24. 2004. 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